AMP SIMULATIONS
The first thing we need to talk about is amplifier simulators, or amp sims, for short. There are MANY amp sims on the market and your DAW probably even comes with one. There are companies that not only make sims, but make them tailored to different genres. You can get the Nashville expansion, the Funk expansion, the Metal expansion, the Blues expansion, and so on. The ones I use the most are Amplitude 3 by IK Multimedia and S-Gear by Slate Digital. Occasionally I will also use the Waves GTR bundle. If you aren’t using Pro Tools 12, I recommend Line 6 Amp Farm or a free sim from the company Studio Devil as well. You don’t always have to pay to get good sounds. There are plenty of websites out there offering free, legal plug-ins.
Here at LIRCo, I actually have several different sims, but those are the ones I find myself reaching for most often. To use a sim is easy, just record a DI version of your guitar or bass signal and slap on your favorite amp sim. DONE! Well, not really. The whole trick is sifting thru all the presets and amps in the plug-in until find the sound that fits the song. Even then, the process isn’t finished. To me, an amp sim just gives me a better starting point. I still EQ and compress the track just as if it was recorded with that sound. I have found that a quick and easy way to make almost any bass sound better is to add the SVT preset from Sans Amp (a free plug-in with Pro Tools). Instantly better sounding starting point! And I stress to my students at LSRA that it is just that - a starting point. All the compression needs that were there before the sim are still there and need to be dealt with, the only real difference is that you won’t have to work as hard to get a good EQ on the track now.
Skipping back to DI tracks for a moment. It has become a common practice these days for an engineer to “split the signal” with a DI Box before an amplifier as well. See my very cheap diagram below…
In my recording class at LSRA, I teach this way of tracking guitars and basses as this serves a few different possible purposes. One, if you decide later in the mix process that the recorded amplifier sound just isn’t right for the song, you can switch to the DI and use a sim that has a more suitable sound.
Two, you can blend the two together for a bigger sound. I remember during a session a few years ago, I was using an awesome sounding Marshall 4x12 but the client wanted more natural low end. Now, any of you that have used a Marshall know that they are mainly midrange amps, not known for their huge low end tones. So what did I do? I split the signal and added a Mesa Boogie sim to the DI channel! Blended the two to taste, and we had an awesome rock tone with a big low end. Just what the client wanted!
Third, you can use the DI track to simulate another guitar playing the same part by adding a different sounding amp sim and panning the two off each other. You will need to be careful and be sure to check for phase alignment problems though, since the two signals are hitting the board/DAW at slightly different points in the waveform flow. Often when I do this, I will also add a very short delay to one of the guitars (usually @ 20-25ms with 100% mix on the effected track) to give the guitars more space in the mix, since technically it is really just one guitar and will not sound “stereo” like it would if you actually tracked the guitarist twice.
The forth thing you can do with a DI split is to use the DI track as an editing tool. When you are tracking distorted guitars, it is very hard to see where individual chord hits are because of the nature of the distorted waveform. If you also have the DI sitting underneath on the next track, you can easily see where to go if you need to punch in and fix a problem or where to highlight if you plan on copying and pasting sections into other places in the song.
RECAB
So what if you have a recorded guitar amp that isn’t quite up to the task and there’s no DI? Well, depending on the sound, there are plug-ins to help call re-cab plug-ins. Basically, re-cabs will allow you to simulate another speaker cabinet/microphone setup onto your already recorded track. It doesn’t replace your real sound (Once it’s recorded, it’s there forever!), but it can augment the sound in a very pleasing way if you can match up the right re-cab to your existing sound. You can also change the cabinet entirely (not just add another on top) by using the pre amp output of the amp to bypass the speakers and record just the pre amp sound. You then mic up the cabinet as well, and you will have the actual sound of the amp + cabinet and the ability to use the sound of the amp head with numerous other cabinet options that you have in you re-cab plug-ins. I have used the re-cab plug-in Boogex (by Voxengo) on several mixes when the recorded sounds just weren’t what I wanted, and the change was remarkable! It’s not a tool that can or even should be used every time, but knowing what they do and having access to one or more (for different flavors!) can sometimes be the difference in a decent mix and a great one.
FAKE DRUMS vs REAL DRUMS
Is drum replacement cheating or just a fact of modern studio life? This debate has been raging since the plug-ins Drumagog and Steven Slate Drums were set loose on the audio world in the early 2000’s. Even though drum replacement had been going on for years before (using triggers on actual drums), it was a well kept industry secret. Basically, you can record your drums and then, with a plug-in, replace the “not so professional” sound with perfectly recorded drum samples. It’s still the player playing, just much better quality. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Well, yes and no. It’s great if you don’t have the ability or space to track drums correctly, but on the other hand, you will never learn how to mic up a drum kit to get great sounds NATURALLY if you rely solely on a plug-in to give you the sounds! It’s really a catch-22 situation. I can’t say that replacing is horrible and wrong because I have done it on more than one occasion. The majority of the time I have it has been because the sounds I was given to mix were so bad that no amount of EQ in the world could polish them up to the level they needed to be. When I do replace, I always keep the real hi-hat and cymbal tracks, though. That way, I can still have some semblance of the actual recorded take.
The biggest problem sonically I have found with replacement is that many times it just doesn’t sound REAL. Sometimes you can hear that the snare rolls sound “fake” or that the hits are EXACTLY the same thoughout the song. Not just the same volume, but THE SAME. What makes a drum take sound "real" is the drummer and how he or she hits the drums. Sometimes sounding perfect is not what is needed.
What I have been doing lately, is using drum samples as SUPPORT for my live drums. If I have a snare that was recorded kind of thin (lack of bottom end) but still a good sounding snare, I will add a sample replacement hit in to fill out the sound. How you do it is easy. Just duplicate the track and add the replacement plug-in to the duplicate track. Add your sample in and blend the two tracks until you get the sound you are looking for! A vast majority of engineers are using samples in this same way. It allows you the “reality” of the real snare but the steadiness of tone from the sampled hit.
Now, even if you use samples, you still will need to add some compression and possibly some EQ. The triggered sound is still playing off of the dynamics of your “real” sound in most cases, and the discrepancies will still be there, just with a “better” sound. For me, when I use samples, either as support or as straight up replacements, I ALWAYS EQ the sound. A great sounding snare still needs to fit into my mix and blend with the song. I will also compress if it is the snare or toms. For the kick drum, I usually don’t need to compress because I take away all the dynamic tracking of the sample, so I get one consistent level for the entire song, but I always EQ it to fit my needs.
TO GRID OR NOT TO GRID…THAT IS THE QUESTION
So you have a great sounding drum take, but the tempo is a little “loose”. What do yo do? Well, depending on the style, maybe nothing! “Jam Band” type bands are notorious for changing tempos, and at times, a certain amount of looseness is almost necessary. Rock ,metal, and even modern country bands, however, are much different beasts. A metronome is almost REQUIRED and an emphasis is placed on being locked into a certain tempo. The majority of this “problem” can be addressed by requiring the band to play to a click. A click is basically a steady pulse fed into the headphones at a certain tempo to keep the band from playing faster or slower than the decided tempo of the song. So what happens if you have the drummer on a click and they are still drifting slightly back and forth. The answer may be to quantize the drums, or in engineering speak, “lock them to the grid”.
To say that I do this some would be an understatement. I do this ALMOST EVERY TIME. Nothing makes a rock or metal band sound more amateur than to have the tempo pushing and pulling throughout the song. Beat Detective in Pro Tools is the most used way to make the drums line up the grid. It is actually very easy to use, but in the beginning, pretty time consuming until you learn your way around and get your flow going (as with everything). I usually set up the detector to 16th notes to make sure that i capture all the audio I need to and then it’s just a matter of separating at the transients and snapping the parts to the grid. You can even set it up to not lock perfectly to the grid so you can decided for yourself what degree of “perfection” you want in the song. Usually, I am going to want the lock the drummer in, so I go for full on perfection! And the best part is that you can have the drummer perfectly on the beat and still sound like themselves and not a drum machine. Part of the trick (for me, anyway)is that you ONLY grid the drums. The guitars and bass are left un-quantized (is that a word?), and the band still sounds natural. If you try and grid everything, you wind up with a very robotic sounding track. Probably not what the band is looking for!
Well, we have come to the end of part two of How To Create A More Professional Mix. Next time, I will delve into the world of space and effects- using reverbs and delays to make your song have atmosphere, width and character that will help your mix stand out in the crowd.
Don't forget that you are welcome to stop by and tour our facilities here at LIRCo and LSRA anytime. Just give us a call at 859-335-8440 (if you're local) or TOLL FREE at 877-335-8440 to set it up, so we can give you the ultimate LIRCo experience. See ya next time!!!
Steve Nall
Head Engineer, LIRS
